The exhibition projects of the series #ATTRACTION are brought to you by Manege Central Exhibition Hall together with Russia’s leading cultural institutions. The project’s mission is to acquaint the city with works of various Russian and international artists, as well as to present interdisciplinary curatorial projects from exhibitions that are from outside of St. Petersburg.

Triumph Gallery (Moscow) will present its key artists at the Other Shores Exhibition in Manege. This project examines the possibilities of preserving and passing on experiences and knowledge through personal notes, maps and routes. The exhibition is based on the idea of psychogeographic drift – the study of the urban environment through one’s aesthetic and emotional experience (the term was introduced by Guy Debord). Through their works, the artists reflect on the changes going on in today’s world. The reality which they recreate in their installations, videos, paintings and sculptures, becomes a true mosaic of observations, personal experiences, fragments of collective memory and fantasies concerning a potential future.

The name of the exhibition alludes to a number of cultural narratives. One of them is Vladimir Nabokov’s autobiography that takes us back to certain episodes of his childhood and adolescence, as well as to his relocation from one continent to another.

Another important theme are the rivers of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Unlike the latter, Moscow’s rivers are not a defining aspect of its identity; and in relation to St. Petersburg, Moscow truly presents itself as “the other shore” – culturally, politically, and socially.

Another allusion is the attempt to take a look at the social reality we’re accustomed to from “another shore”. Most of the works present a take on the urban environment and fantasies about its transformation from a unique angle.

While works by Alexander Vinogradov document the geographic shift from one capital to another, the works Pavel Otdelnov, Gyungsu An and Alexander Yakut present borderline urban environments, such as outskirts, neglected residential and industrial areas, and roads. A significant number of works are also dedicated to various aspects of public and private spaces, like the “Windows” installation, which was created by street artists. This installation contains pieces by Alexander Brodsky, an artist and an architect, whose work focuses on individuals, instead of public projects, adjusting urban spaces

Other artists also focus inside of the boundary between the public and the private. Thus, Nikolay Onishchenko and Keito Yamaguchi observe big city life and examine collective identity by looking at protests and city crowds. “For Courage”, an installation consisting of solely paintings by Vinogradov and Dubosarsky, interprets memories related to the victory in the Second World War, which is one of the greatest sources of collective memory in Russia today.

Members of Recycle Group examine today’s world through an ‘archaeological’ lens. They show that in today’s worlds our memories are being composed more and more by technology. As a result, we become imprisoned by technology, which accompanied by paranoia related to potential disasters that could disrupt technological data and information. This can be considered to be a projection of the future that already seems so eerily applicable to the reality we see today.

Participants:
A.D.E.D., AES+F, CrocodilePOWER, Misha Most, Nootk, Recycle Group, Kostya Zmogk, Anatoly Akue, Gyungsu An, Andrey Berger, Alexey Belyaev-Gintovt, Alexander Brodsky, Dmitry Bulnygin, Alexey Vasiliev, Dmitry Venkov, Alexandra Vertinskaya, Issy Wood, Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubosarsky, Dmitry Gretsky, Dmitry Gutov, Vladislav Efimov, Min Jung Yeon, Nikolay Koshelev, Maxim Ksuta, Anton Kuznetsov, Si Lo, Alexander Morozov, Egor Plotnikov, Yun Kyung Jeong, Xooang Choi, Alexander Yakut, Keito Yamagushi.